AEW Dynamite Review - June 14, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Champion MJF vs. Adam Cole in an AEW World Championship Eliminator Match Ended in a Time-Limit Draw

I completely forgot about the possibility of this ending in a time-limit draw, which made way more sense than either guy winning. It also made sense for this to kick off the show given what went on last instead. What we got was a fantastic match that not only served as a reminder of what MJF can do but Cole as well. Don't get me wrong, Cole has had some excellent matches in AEW so far, but this was easily his best. I'm all for the idea of Cole staying in chase more for the summer and AEW going back to this in time for either All In or All Out since Hiroshi Tanahashi has already been announced as MJF's opponent at Forbidden Door.

Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Chris Jericho and Sting All Crossed Paths

Guevara and Allin have a long history together, so it's fitting that Allin might be the one that helps Guevara cement his babyface turn. I'm still not sold on Guevara going back to being a babyface already, but AEW is clearly high on the idea of Guevara playing up into it by talkin about becoming dad and everything we saw from him on the All Access show. His exchange with Jericho was long overdue and hints at that being Jericho's next feud. The Sting and Jericho face-off was also interesting, though I can't say the idea of those two having a match at this point particularly intrigues me.

Darby Allin, Sting, Keith Lee and AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. The Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony)

This was only Sting's second match of the year so far. His matches are becoming less frequent, but I'm enjoying them while we have them since retirement for him is apparently on the horizon. He did well whenever he was in there and the rest of this was fun stuff that the crowd was into. It feels like we've waited a decade for Strickland vs. Lee one-on-one and we've reached a point where I just don't care.

AEW TNT Champion Wardlow def. Jake Hager

This was the rubber match between these two as they previously split wins during the Inner Circle vs. Pinnacle program. Hager simply should not be on television at this point, and the outcome was never in doubt with Luchasaurus already waiting in the wings for a title shot, but it was a decent hoss fight. Speaking of Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus for the TNT title, it will happen on the Collision premiere this Saturday.

AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm def. Skye Blue

The babyfaces of AEW's women's division are constantly made to look incompetent by not bringing back backup. That was once again the case here. That said, this was one of the better women's matches we've gotten on Dynamite in some time. Blue had a strong showing and Storm was the perfect person for her to be in there with. There were some close nearfalls and the crowd was really behind Blue. I'm not a fan of the Outcasts stuff, but if Storm can consistently deliver quality matches like she did during her first reign, then that's a plus.

The Elite ("Hangman" Adam Page and The Young Bucks) def. Blackpool Combat Club (Wheeler Yuta, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley)

Page and the Bucks used to go by The Hung Bucks, which was referenced in their lower-third graphic during their entrance. Considering who was involved in this match, it was no surprise it was as entertaining as it was. Elite lost to Blackpool Combat Club at Double or Nothing, so this win gives them a measure of revenge as we wait for the inevitable Blood and Guts match. The best part came afterward when the chaos ensued with Eddie Kingston returning, Kenny Omega and Konosuke Takeshita squaring off, and Will Ospreay laying out Omega. I can understand the argument that it was a little too chaotic, but it was certainly an electric way to close out the night.

Overall Show

Well, this was certainly the newsworthy show, and although it made for hot two hours, AEW really needs to do a better job of spacing this sort of stuff out. The build to Forbidden Door has felt even more rushed than last year with MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the AEW World Championship and SANADA vs. Jack Perry for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship both being made official on this episode, but at least it's a stacked card on paper with only four matches announced. Dynamite has been very hit or miss this year, and while this edition fell in the former category, the frantic pace definitely has its disadvantages at times. Even still, this has to be considered one of the strongest Dynamite shows AEW has ever done as a result of everything that went down.

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